{"id":2402,"date":"2018-05-09T06:25:13","date_gmt":"2018-05-09T14:25:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/?p=2402"},"modified":"2018-05-09T06:25:13","modified_gmt":"2018-05-09T14:25:13","slug":"busy-spring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/busy-spring\/","title":{"rendered":"Busy Spring"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Onion<\/a>
Onion grass–scourge of the spring garden<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In my neighborhood we enjoyed winter right through April, followed by ten minutes of spring.\u00a0 Now we are in the process of jumping headfirst into summer.\u00a0 The last of the daffodils, having survived late snow, cold spring winds and all kinds of insults, hang their heads, defeated by a sudden blast of hot sticky air.<\/p>\n

The first thing to do in this changeable season is deadhead those daffodils.\u00a0 They will appreciate it, because it saves them the trouble of setting seed and lets them get on with the business of storing energy for next year\u2019s blooms.\u00a0 They will also look better.\u00a0 Few people have time any more to hobble their daffodils by braiding their long leaves, or worse, yet, chopping those leaves off too soon.\u00a0 However, if you are one of those people, restrain yourself for the good of the plants.\u00a0 The foliage has to ripen and begin to yellow before the daffodils\u2019 spring renewal cycle ends.<\/p>\n

Divide snowdrops, grape hyacinths and other small spring bloomers now, before hot weather drives them to hide away until next year.\u00a0 Dig deeply and gently, divide the clumps with your hands and install the new divisions under trees, in the fronts of borders or anywhere else that might have been lacking in early spring interest in March.<\/p>\n

Marking the locations of \u201cspring ephemerals\u201d, like snowdrops, is always a problem.\u00a0 For years I did it with small golf tees, but even these tend to get lost in the weeding and maintenance routine.\u00a0 Not long ago I read about someone who marks locations with handfuls of ordinary sand.\u00a0 This does not harm plants or soil and may be more viable than golf tees.<\/p>\n

Since winter was so brutal and good spring weather so scarce this year, I am still doing clean-up.\u00a0 Every time I think I have picked up all the downed sticks, I find a seven foot branch behind the garage that needs to be cut down to size, bundled and sent to the curb.\u00a0 It is frustrating when all I really want to do is go to the garden center and bankrupt myself buying new plants.<\/p>\n

Still, gardening should be as much about discipline as delight and disbursements, so keep cleaning up.\u00a0 I could spend days just digging onion grass out of my beds.\u00a0 This year it has outpaced chickweed as public enemy number one in my garden.\u00a0 \u00a0It is my own fault for taking such pains with my soil that I have created paradise for onion grass. \u00a0What a pity that the deer refuse to eat it.<\/p>\n

If you don\u2019t have onion grass or other noxious spring weeds to keep you busy, and you have already divided\u2014or declined to divide\u2014your spring ephemerals, consider cost-effective ways of filling landscape or container gardening holes.\u00a0 Hostas breed like rabbits and are easiest to divide when they are just emerging in the spring.\u00a0 I use the Japanese garden knife to saw through the tough hosta roots, but an old kitchen knife will do just as well.<\/p>\n

\"Winter<\/a>
Winter storms leave a legacy of sticks and debris<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Daylilies need dividing about every three years, which will come as a surprise to the many daylily owners who have never divided their clumps.\u00a0 If you do this right now, you will still have daylily bloom this year, not to mention plants that are more robust in the years to come.\u00a0 The only real exception to this every-three-year division rule is the common tawny daylily, sometimes known as \u201cditch lily\u201d for its tendency to grow prolifically in waste spaces.\u00a0 Tawny daylilies require absolutely nothing except admiration for their tenacity.\u00a0 Do not waste precious garden time digging and dividing them unless, you are running out of space or they have invaded your house.<\/p>\n

The hard winter took a toll on my hydrangeas too.\u00a0 Now that the shrubs have budded and are beginning to leaf out, the dead branches are very obvious, resembling bleached bones jutting up or outward from the plants.\u00a0 Cutting them off will make the hydrangeas look much more presentable and will not affect this year\u2019s flower production.\u00a0 When you ply your clippers, just remember not to cut off any stem that has a green bud.<\/p>\n

Above all, don\u2019t get too anxious about the fact that there are at least 1,000 things to do in the garden right now and approximately one hour each week when you have time to do them.\u00a0 Exuberance is a spring phenomenon for plants, just as crowded schedules are spring phenomena for humans.\u00a0 The plants will slow down by and by, and eventually you will find a few hours that you do not owe to your children, spouse, employer, doctor, dentist or volunteer obligations.\u00a0 For at least a short time, you and the garden will be in sync.<\/p>\n

I try to remember that as I lean in over the clumps of onion grass.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In my neighborhood we enjoyed winter right through April, followed by ten minutes of spring.\u00a0 Now we are in the process of jumping headfirst into summer.\u00a0 The last of the daffodils, having survived late snow, cold spring winds and all kinds of insults, hang their heads, defeated by a sudden blast of hot sticky air. … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,2,3,5],"tags":[803,792,85,404,1861,1862,1863],"class_list":["post-2402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-interest","category-spring","category-summer","category-winter","tag-dividing-perennials","tag-garden-clean-up","tag-garden-maintenance","tag-onion-grass","tag-spring-garden","tag-spring-garden-chores","tag-winter-damage"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2402"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2402\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2405,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2402\/revisions\/2405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}